35
You bring the soldier under your control and force him to discharge his musket through a crack in the ambulance's side planking. Bloodhound suddenly tenses and, drawing his blaster, takes aim at you. You are about to dive onto the ground when the musket goes off and Bloodhound regains control of himself. You run up to the ambulance, but before you arrive the hunt explodes and a flyer accelerates out of it. Six giant ants, their red eyes glaring at you balefully, are clinging onto the honeycomb-like seats. One of them appears to have been killed bya musket ball. You realise it is the Hivers, Creche 82282. The Creche skim low through the smoke of the battlefield, almost faster than the eye can see, making a sonic boom like the explosion of a powder magazine, the ammunition stores for the cannon. As they go you catch the thought that they are heading for the planet Hel. You have succeeded in preserving the past and decide to follow the Creche to Hel. Turn to 161.